Subbaiah Gari Hotel asked to refund for delivering bonda instead of single meals

HYDERABAD: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has ordered Subbaiah Gari Hotel to pay Rs 7,745 for delivering Bonda rather than single meals ordered by a customer in Hyderabad.

Hamer Singh, a Nampally resident, used the Zomato app on May 4, 2022, to order single meals for a guest from Subbaiah Gari Hotel. He claimed to have paid Rs 245 for the order, but instead of meals, they delivered Bonda, causing his guest to miss lunch.

As a result, he demanded a refund from Zomato, but they reportedly declined the refund.

Hamer Singh claimed that Zomato failed to provide adequate service and that both Zomato and Subbaiah Gari Hotel should be held jointly and severally accountable for the mistake that they made. The Subbaiah Gari Hotel failed to respond to the consumer court's notices.

According to Zomato, the food item ordered by Hamer Singh was duly prepared and packed by the restaurant partner Subbaiah Gari Hotel. The court noted that the delivery partner Zomato was the only one involved and forwarded the order to the restaurant for consideration.

Subbaiah Gari Hotel prepared and packed the order's meal products, and there was no involvement of the Zomato responding in the preparation or packing of the order, the court observed. The court also stated that it was pointless to question the delivery partner about the wrong order.

Hamer Singh also argued that the fact was that Subbaiah Gari Hotel did not respond and the court observed that they did not visit the commission even after getting the summons and this illustrated their attitude and thick skinniness, resulting in the adoption of unfair trade practises.

The court further pointed out that Subbaiah Gari Hotel's attitude of packaging "Bonda" instead of "one single meals" against Singh's order placed and delivered through its facilitator Zomato amounted to a lack of service that lead to the adoption of unfair trade practises.

As a result, the court ordered Subbaiah Gari Hotel to reimburse a sum of Rs. 245 paid by Singh, plus interest at the rate of 12 percent per annum from May 4, 2022 till its realisation. The court further ordered them to pay litigation costs of Rs 2,500 to Hamer Singh and Rs 5,000 to the Consumer Welfare Fund via challan to the state government.